//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Reconnaissance // Story: Guardian // by Xrevias //------------------------------// “Goldie! I’m here!” Scarlet Gem stood outside Dusk’s home. Coincidentally, it was right around dusk at the time. The sun was close to setting, and the air was much cooler than it would be in the morning or afternoon. She heard a few hoofsteps from inside the house, and the door creaked open to reveal Golden Dusk with a smile on his face. “Heya, Gem!” he chippered. She smiled as well. “Hey, Goldie,” she replied. “Ready to go?” “Uh, in a bit,” he said. “I just need to finish something.” He walked back into his house and motioned for Scarlet to follow. Almost immediately, the scent of food filled her every breath. “You cooking?” she asked as Dusk walked into the kitchen. “Yeah.” It wasn’t an uncommon thing for Golden Dusk to cook. She has seen him make a few dishes here and there. Scarlet walked over and leaned on the arched opening to see him in action. He held a pan in his magic over a stove while his hooves worked on a bowl of seasonings. The pan gave off a crackling noise, indicating that something was being fried. “What’re you making?” Scarlet approached the counter to get a better view. “Stir-fried hay,” he chirped as he finished mixing a bowl of spices. Scarlet looked into the bowl and mentally listed the different ingredients she saw in the bowl while Dusk was by the stove checking on the hay. She tentatively dipped the tip of her hoof in the bowl and gave its contents a lick. “Not bad… I see what he’s going for...” she said as she smacked her lips together. “Hey, Dusk, try adding some allspice to it,” she told her teammate. He tilted his head but shrugged, she was a cook after all. He floated over a small container filled with the spice and added some to the mix. He then tested it with a small dip of his hoof before his eyes widened.  Scarlet smirked. “Better, right?” Dusk nodded slowly and immediately added the entirety of the mix into the pan. The scent of the spices being added filled the house.  “It even smells the same…” he thought to himself. “Could this really be…” She gave a curious look to Dusk but waited for a few moments for the hay to be cooked. She stood idly at the side of the counter as she let the sizzling sounds fill her eyes. Neither pony spoke, a rare occurrence for the pair. A few moments passed by and the food was done. Dusk levitated the pan and tilted it to place the hay onto a sizable serving bowl. He used tongs to serve himself and Scarlet a plate. The two sat down by the table and took a bite. Scarlet hummed in approval. “Pretty good… if I didn’t know better, I’d say a three-hoof restaurant made this.” She swallowed. Dusk… was in a trance. His eyes remained wide and the spoon was still in his mouth. Scarlet raised a brow as she looked at him. “Goldie, I get that it’s good, but is it really-” “It tastes the same,” he said in a whisper.  “The same as what?” “It tastes the same…” His eyes started to water as he took another bite of it. Scarlet wore a look of worry on her face as she walked to stand beside where Dusk sat.  “What’re you saying?” she asked softly. Dusk gulped as a tear flowed down his cheek. “I’ve… I’ve been trying to recreate my mom’s recipe,” he said shakily as he took another spoonful. She gasped lightly as Dusk’s emotions started to take over. His fangs and ear tips grew out and his eyes became slitted as well. He gently put his spoon down and stood up and hugged Scarlet tightly. Her back started to feel slightly moist. “Th-thank you,” Dusk stuttered. “Thank you so much!”  Scarlet hugged him back just as tight, her own tears forming around her eyes. Dusk sniffled on occasion as he just let his tears flow. It had been almost a decade since he’d tasted that dish. It reminded him of what his home once was… the warmth, the comfort… the love.  … and the pain. How an occasion filled with his and their joy turned into one of pure anguish. He was about to relive that moment again, but Dusk managed to calm down and breathed shakily. “We should probably finish up and get going, huh?” Scarlet wiped away her tears. “Yup,” she agreed. The two sat down and finished their meal, Dusk still in his thestral form. Whenever his emotions were out of his control, he’d shift back to it. It’s an indicator to his friends that he was really really emotional. It also told them when to be cautious whenever he was angry. Four of the Guardians had an unspoken agreement. Valkyrie, Titan ,Berserker, and Warlock agreed that whenever Hunter and Maestro were mad, they’d either take a step back and let them vent, or stop them from having any… casualties. Dusk put the dishes in the sink for later. Scarlet made her way outside and was now standing by the sidewalk. He walked to the door, took one glance back to a picture on the bookshelf, smiled, and closed the door. He turned to face Scarlet but had to shield his eyes with a leg as the sun’s rays shined brightly, despite it already starting to set. “Shall we?” Dusk approached Scarlet who smiled. She hummed an agreement, and the pair made their way through the streets of Canterlot once more. Their mission is supposedly simple. Just walk around the park as if you were a normal visitor, and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. Though, it is usually missions like these that have the most complications. While both ponies were more than ready for any conflict, it would compromise their identities and the fact that the Royal Guard was onto them.  Speaking of identities... Golden Dusk glanced around to see if anypony was looking. He nudged Scarlet with a hoof before his horn glowed and his magic flowed onto the both of them. The magic covered both of their bodies completely, and once it had disappeared, the two ponies that had a little intervention session with the Royal Guard stood in their place. “Just in case,” Dusk whispered and Scarlet nodded. The Purifiers were still mostly a mystery to them so they’d have to take the necessary precautions. Other than their intentions, their numbers, firepower, and their plans were a completely blank page. . “So, what’s the plan?” Scarlet asked. “Well, I was thinking of maybe just to sit on a bench for a while or walk around just to scout the area,” he said. “The less we act like we’re looking for something, the better,” he nodded. Scarlet hummed in thought. “And if we see anything suspicious?” “Investigate.” They made a left turn and he continued, “We should avoid confrontations though.” “What happened to the bravado last week?” she teased. Dusk rolled his eyes. “You should know by now that unless it’s in a controlled environment, I’d rather not get into a fight.” “I know, I know. So, we just have to act ‘normal,’ right?” “Yep! Shame, we might run into some complications,” he sighed. Scarlet glared at the unicorn. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Nothing!” he said quickly as they approached the park’s entrance. Small, metal fences surrounded the park’s area. Lavish greenery accompanied by different flowers gave it so much more color. A playground was built on one side, while opposite to it was a small lake. The sunset reflected off its water, and birds sang their tunes. Dusk sat down comfortable on the bench and took in the view and Scarlet sat next to him. A feeling of serenity washed over the two, and a cool breeze passed by. “It’s beautiful, huh?” Scarlet murmured, leaning closer to Dusk. “Yeah…” he whispered as he felt a small amount of heat rise to his cheeks. “Though, I heard it’s much more beautiful at night,” Dusk added. “Mhm,” she agreed. She leaned in closer and whispered, “Don’t let the view distract you from our mission.” He felt a bit cheeky and smirked. “Which? You or the sunset?” Scarlet stared at him for a moment before blushing and looking away. Dusk laughed. “Calm down, I’m teasing.” “So… you’re saying that I’m…” She was tempted to fly away. “Yes, I think you’re pretty.” He rolled his eyes. “C’mon take the compliment.” He nudged her with a hoof. “Thanks,” she murmured and unfurled her wings to hide behind them. He shook his head and smiled. He had finally one-upped her. Though, he couldn’t understand the slight flutter in his stomach. Dusk looked back to where the sun was setting, and only saw its rays poking out by the horizon. It was almost time… Well, if Scarlet could calm down then they could continue. “Gem, you good?” he asked playfully. Scarlet lowered her wings with only a slightly pink hue to her cheeks. “Yeah, I’m good.” Dusk chuckled and got up. “Let’s check the playground.” She stood up as well and they followed a path to the playground. A stone path circled the main part of it. Outside the circle, wood chairs and tables lined it, this was where the parents would usually stay to have idle chatter and keep an eye on their children. Two slides were connected by a small bridge. One of them was a swirl, and the other was straight all the way down. A seesaw took up a space to it’s side, and there were a few tic-tac-toe games too. Some swings were placed by the trees and gave shade to anyone who would use them.  Golden Dusk walked to the slide and climbed the small stairs. He stood behind where the swirly slide was and looked out to Scarlet who was still on the ground. Though the height difference was not much, just a few feet. Dusk sat down on the slide and slid down, giving off an amused squeal as he reached the bottom. “What are you, five?” Scarlet teased. “Oh, shush and let me have my fun,” he impishly chided her as he stood up. She too decided she’d give it a go. She flapped her wings and gently flew to the top of the slide. To her amusement, it looked higher than it did when she was on the ground. She positioned herself on the slide and let gravity do the work. She slid down to the bottom and giggled but stopped when she saw Dusk smirking at the bottom. “Having fun, little gem?” His grin would be seen by even a blind pony. Scarlet scoffed. “No,” she denied and stood on four legs. “Sure, sure.” He bumped her with a shoulder. “C’mon the seesaw’s free!” He bolted for said contraption. She rolled her eyes with a smile and followed suit. It’d take seeing Celestia not eating cake for a day for her to admit she was having fun. Dusk sat down on an adequately sized seesaw and balanced it for Scarlet to take a seat on the other end.  “Ready?” he asked cheerily. She nodded and grinned. He let gravity take over as he lowered onto the grass and Scarlet went up. He kicked off the ground and they found themselves in the opposite of where they were at. They continued to go up and down, Dusk laughed whenever he reached the highest point. “Whew!” He wiped off some sweat from his brow. “Look! The sun’s gone!” “Tired already?” Dusk huffed. “No! I’m just… perspiring?” he countered weakly. Scarlet giggled and stood up. “C’mon, we still gotta check the other places.” He sighed and almost begrudgingly left the seesaw.  The moon shone brightly now. Owls flew around the park and their hoots resounded throughout the woody areas. They passed by glowing flowers as they walked by the paths. Each one glowing their respective colors. Red, yellow, blue, and others luminated the ground.  “It really is beautiful,” Dusk murmured without stopping in his step. Scarlet nodded with a smile as they continued to walk around the park. “Have you seen anything?” he asked. She shook her head. “No, nothing yet.” She turned to look around a dark corner. “Yeah, definitely nothing,” she confirmed. Then, Dusk’s ears twitched and he glanced to his left. Had he heard something? “Wait a moment.” His disguise shifted and his ears suddenly had much more acute hearing. He heard rustling in the foliage, the kind that grass would make if somepony were to walk on it!  “In the trees!” he whispered. Golden Dusk silently made his way to the edge of the greenery. The flowers only grew by the path, so it would be pretty hard to spot him in the dark. Scarlet Gem flew to the branches, her wing flaps barely having any sound.  They both stopped to see two hooded ponies speaking to one another in a small clearing. They wore what seemed to be raincoats, and their race wasn’t identifiable. Neither were unicorns for sure, however, “I cannot believe that we are being told to wait here,” one of them grumbled. “Who would we even find that would want to join us?” “Do not complain, we were ordered to wait for recruits here.” The other one made themselves look bigger. Dusk and Scarlet stayed silent and watched from the shadows. The first one sighed. “Yes, yes, I know… though, who would even think to look here?” The sounds of leaves rustling caught all the four ponies’ attention. They turned to see an mauve pegasus slowly walk towards them. “Um… excuse me?” She hid behind her blue mane, barely covering her purple eyes. “Are you the Purifiers?”  The Purifier members smiled and approached her steadily. “That, we are,” both chuckled. Her wings fluttered slightly. “Well, I’d like to join your ‘cause,’” she smiled rather darkly. One of them nodded. “Very well. However, there still is a recruitment process.” “We will give you your part depending on your specialities.” Dusk tilted his ear towards them. “Well, I am a maid of the Blueblood house,” she said. “Are names a requirement?” “Of course, how rude of us.” Both ponies took off their hoods to reveal a grey pony, and the other was khaki. “Quick Clean,” the khaki one said. “Rock Steady,” the grey pony nodded. The maid smiled and introduced herself, “Lotus Mist.” “Okay then, Lotus,” Quick Clean started, “we’ll take you back to our leader and get you acquainted with the rest.” “Are we not going to wait for more?” Rock Steady asked. Quick turned to look at Lotus. “Have you seen anypony else?” She shook her head. “None.” That said, he let Rock Steady begrudgingly climb onto his back and a pair of wings cane out from under his coat and started flapping. “Maybe you should lay off on the cake?” “I am not that heavy!” Lotus giggled, were they really going to overthrow the nobles? The three took off into the sky, leaving the two spies down at the ground. Dusk walked out calmly into the clearing from some bushes. He looked to his upper right, exactly where Scarlet was hiding within the trees.  Their disguises broke when she stepped onto the branches. “Tail them?” she asked. He shook his head. “You might get noticed.” She huffed. “Please, I can take care of myself.” Dusk hopped up onto the branch she was standing on. “I know, but getting into a fight right now won’t help us in any way.” Scarlet thought about it for a moment. If she goes after the trio, they might find their base of operations. They raid that, take out their leader, and the threat is gone! ...or so she thought. She factored in the fact that probably not all the Purifiers would be gathered there at night. If she would take down most or some of them, the others might just regroup somewhere else. They do that, then they also know that the Guard is onto them.  “Okay.” She sighed. “We have some names at least.” Dusk smiled. “Exactly. We give the princesses the names and they can ask some ponies to go through some files.” The two left the park with haste, they had what they needed. ~~~ “Are you certain of this information, Scarlet Gem?” Princess Luna, for the second night in a row, sat atop her throne and listened to what the Guardians had to say. Her aide, Nightingale, took note of the confidential information the Hunter and Valkyrie gave. “Yes, princess,” Scarlet confirmed. She stood formally in front of the Night Princess. Luna nodded. “Very well. Nightingale, relay the names of these ponies to Captain Shining Armor.” “At once, “ the formally-attired thestral said before disappearing into the shadows again. Dusk stood beside Scarlet as she spoke with the princess in much clearer detail of what they saw. He, on the other hoof, was contemplating on how easy it was. The graffiti, though slightly obscure, gave them the hint they needed to find them. Not to mention, the way that the two Purifiers they saw weren’t on edge at all times. He doubted that anypony would be like that in their situation. As the Hunter, he always liked to gather information about his ‘prey’ before engaging. This… this was far too easy… “— we might be able to see them again tomorrow evening,” he heard Scarlet finish. Princess Luna was about to reply but was stopped by Dusk saying, “This was too easy…” The two other ponies in the room looked to him quizzically. “Think about it,” he said. “Even though the propaganda we saw didn’t have the most obvious information, I doubt anypony with even half of their brain would hand out clues like that so freely.”  “Not only that, neither of the Purifiers we saw were on guard when we were there.” He turned his gaze to Scarlet. “Not to mention, we most likely would’ve seen Lotus Mist enter the park and how they resorted to flying so freely.” Luna tapped her chin with a hoof. “A valid point, Golden Dusk. However, what of their names?” “What do you mean?” “They spoke of their names freely, yes?” At Dusk’s nod, she continued, “What do you make of that?” He hummed for a moment before saying, “Maybe they’re planning to frame us?” “Frame us, how?” Scarlet inquired. “If the guard takes action and questions them, then most likely word will spread about noble houses being suspicious of ‘common’ ponies.” He looked back to Luna. “Their comrades could easily twist that gossip into far more harmful words.” At Scarlet’s look of confusion he added, “They could so easily say that ‘the nobles are always suspicious of us ‘common’ ponies,’ or something of the sort. Basically, dragging down and bad mouthing the Guard, and princesses at the same time, and to justify the need for ‘purification.” Luna nodded. “Your input has been taken note of, Golden Dusk.” She gestured to Nightingale who was back somehow. He flatly stared at her aide. “Good to know that he’d be able to get past me.” Despite what many ponies might think, magic is present in every single one of them. It merely manifests in their own unique ways. For earthponies, their magic can manipulate trees and plants to produce fruit and grow at a much faster rate. For pegasi, they are able to control the weather to some extent, as well as walk on clouds. The unicorns have the purest form of magic, as their horns can control it directly. Golden Dusk held pride in being able to sense the magic signature of different creatures. He’d be able to tell if a spell was being casted, or if magic was being manipulated. So, of course, when Nightingale reappeared without him sensing it... his ego took a small hit. Luna laughed. “It is because the Shadow Form is not a magic ability, it is something that pureblooded thestrals are capable of doing. Akin to yours or Scarlet’s, though in a more natural way.” Nightingale nodded and fixed his tie. “Princess, Captain Shining Armor has received the message. He says he’ll look into it when his schedule is free.” “What could keep him from helping us at a time like this.” She raised a brow. He rolled his eyes. “A simple answer, princess. His wife.” Luna’s eyes widened before she shook her head. “Of course, I had forgotten he was on vacation.” Dusk and Scarlet laughed. “We could always ask somepony else to do it,” she offered. She shook her head. “Nay, ‘tis a job for our highest ranking guards. Maestro is busy with the orchestra, Berserker and Titan should be due to return anytime soon, and Warlock…” she trailed off and let them fill in the blanks. The Guardians facehooved. “Creating,” they uttered at the same time. “Apologies, t’was my fault.” She wore a sheepish grin and Nightingale chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, Luna,” Dusk reassured her. Scarlet added, “Whatever she’s up to will probably benefit all of us anyway.” Whenever Mythic Moon, also known as the Warlock, would stay in her room for days or weeks on end, it usually meant she’s found something to improve on. It can be their gear, magic techniques, or plain technology everypony can use in their day to day lives. Dusk’s armor alone took her a week, and with a brilliant mind like hers, it was a long time for one project.  “Of course, apologies again,” Luna said. “Shall I inform Our… my sister of what transpired today?” “If you’d be so kind, princess Luna.” Dusk bowed with a grin on his face. Scarlet and Luna rolled their eyes. “Stand straight, Golden Dusk, otherwise I will not be allowing you to have cake in the next gala,” Luna threatened. He gulped and stood up normally, to her amusement. “I will inform our sister once she rises from her, as she calls it, ‘well earned and needed beauty sleep,’” she laughed. “The Element of Generosity has rubbed off on her,” Scarlet said. “No doubt about that,” Dusk mused. Luna nodded and with one word of farewell, dismissed the two guards as she closed up the night court.  Golden Dusk and Scarlet Gem walked out of the castle gates before realization struck the unicorn. “We didn’t get any orders!”  Scarlet rolled her eyes. “Think of it as a day off.” He was about to retort but he liked the sound of that.  “Yeah, I won’t complain.” ~~~ Lotus Mist stood in an alley with Quick Clean and Rock Steady at her side. The latter holding knives as if ready to strike. Her purple eyes gazed steadily to where the open streets were. Silence permeated their surroundings, as none of them dared to lose focus. “They did not follow us,” Lotus told the two. “Not to mention, the two of them were disguised fairly well.” They sighed and sheathed their weapons in their coats. “So we proceed with plan b?” Quick asked. “Of course,” she confirmed. “Are the potions ready, Close Ward?” A unicorn walked out of the shadows, a flask, filled with a substance alternating between an orange and red color, floated to her side in a green glow. “All ten batches are ready,” she said with a smirk. She smiled. “Good, then plan b is in action.” After all these years… she would finally have her revenge.